Russian Woman Has World's Longest Female Legs

Like long-legged ladies? Russian-born Svetlana Pankratova has what are confirmed to be the world’s longest gams. Six-foot-five Svetlana’s legs measure 132 centimeters long.

Growing up in Volgograd, Russia, Svetlana was the tallest child in her class starting in kindergarten. She considered this a perk, since the kids would line up by height for activities, and her long legs always put her at the front of the line. But, things got tougher for her in high school, since she says that she would often be teased for being so much taller than the other students.

In 2002, a friend of Svetlana’s saw a news story about a British woman who claimed to have the world’s longest female legs. Her friend encouraged her to check and see if hers were, indeed, longer. Svetlana contacted the Guinness Book of World Records to find out. After six years of intermittent emails, phone calls and documentation, it was confirmed that the world’s longest legs actually belonged to Svetlana. “It’s not like I was always on top of it,” Svetlana told interviewers. “I had other things to do and just kind of let it go.” In 2008, she was photographed next to the shortest man to promote the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Svetlana picked a career custom-made for the long-legged. After playing on professional basketball teams in Portugal, Israel and Spain, she retired and now serves as a high school basketball coach.